Some novelists crank out books just as fast as their publisher can print them. That's not the case with author Scott Smith, whose debut novel, A Simple Plan, was published in 1993. His second novel, The Ruins, goes on sale Tuesday.

Irina Slutskaya won the Cup of China on Saturday, keeping the crowd cheering from start to finish in her return to skating after an extended break because of illness. Jeffrey Buttle of Canada won the men's title, easily holding his lead from the short program with a seemingly effortless free skate.

When the school district in this Cincinnati suburb announced last March it was eliminating extracurricular activities for the coming school year, many students cried. "We were in a world of hurt," says Heather Reed, class president at Fairfield High School. "Can you really be a school if you don't have football or band or Spanish Club?" One group of parents decided no.

Donald Trump's attempt to trademark the phrase, "You're fired!" may falter in Glenview, Ill. A woman there who named her ceramics studio You're Fired! in 1997 says she will fight the billionaire. Susan Brenner, 54, filed for the trademark in 1998, but the filing is listed as "dead" by the U.S. Patent Office.